Communication professor to head Stanford in Washington

STANFORD -- Stanford University communication professor Elie Abel has been
named the new director of Stanford in Washington, effective Sept. 1, Provost
Gerald Lieberman has announced.

Abel, who came to Stanford in 1979 as the Harry and Norman Chandler
Professor of Communication, is a veteran reporter, broadcaster and author of
numerous books on U.S. foreign policy and the news media.

He will succeed political science professor David Danelski, who is
retiring after having directed the Washington campus since it opened in 1988.
The program gives Stanford undergraduates a chance to learn about national
policymaking though a rigorous blend of academic courses and internships.

"I can't think of a more distinguished person in that position," Lieberman
said. "Elie knows government, he knows Washington, he knows the media. I am
delighted that he has agreed to lend his great experience and talent to
Stanford in yet another important role."

Abel graduated from Montreal's McGill University in 1941 and received a
master's degree in journalism from Columbia University in 1942. He served as
a foreign correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance and the New
York Times, as Washington bureau chief for the Detroit News, and as London
bureau chief and diplomatic correspondent for NBC News.

From 1970 to 1979, Abel was the Godfrey Lowell Cabot Professor and Dean of
the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He also served as the
U.S. member of UNESCO's International Commission for the Study of
Communication Problems and was a member of the U.S. delegation to the 21st
General Conference of UNESCO in Yugoslavia.

Among his many books are The Missile Crisis (1966), Special Envoy to
Churchill and Stalin -- 1941-1946 (1975) and Leaking: Who Does It? Who
Benefits? At What Cost? (1986). His latest book, The Shattered Bloc, Behind
the Uprising in Eastern Europe, is a study of the events that led to the
collapse of Communist rule in the region.

Abel's honors include the George Foster Peabody Award, two Overseas Press
Club Awards and The First Amendment Defender Award of Catholic University's
Law School.

Abel was selected by a search committee headed by David Brady, professor
of political science. Other members included historian Al Camarillo (ex
officio), John Cogan of the Hoover Institution, Wanda Corn of the Stanford
Humanities Center; communication professor James Risser, alumnus Leon Sloss,
Haas Center acting director Timothy Stanton and student Sherri Wolson.

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